The Board of Trustees at Morris Brown College announces a partnership between Morris Brown College and the Education Online Services Corporation (EOServe Corp) that will ignite the process of the resurgence of Morris Brown.

At the recent NAFEO (National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education) conference in Atlanta, GA, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president of Education Online Services, announced his commitment to work with Morris Brown College and to bring online education to the institution. Dr. Stan Pritchett, acting president of Morris Brown College, and Dr. Lezli Baskerville, Executive Director of NAFEO, had previously met and started dialogue that resulted in this partnership. NAFEO is an umbrella organization of the nation's HBCUs and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) that was founded to advocate policies, programs, and practices designed to preserve and enhance HBCUs.

Â EOServe Corp is the premier provider of online education offering this 21st century educational technique to the nation's largest online colleges and universities. Morris Brown College will be first HBCU institution taking part in the existing full online degree program. EOServe will have an immediate presence on Morris Brown's campus working with faculty and staff to determine needs and capabilities with regard to online curriculum and support service. Morris Brown will receive assistance and support in areas including marketing, recruiting, enrollment, retention, tutoring and financial aid. "We were thoroughly impressed with the dedication of the Morris Brown faculty, the passion and commitment of the president of the college, the 128 year-old legacy of the institution, the available campus facilities, and, of course, the Atlanta community," said Dr. Ben Chavis.

"Our new business plan at Morris Brown calls for a global education initiative and using online programming is the approach best suited to meet this objective," said Dr. Pritchett. "In addition to the recent high school graduate who prefers an online degree, we will work toward reaching the adult student, who didn't complete requirements for their undergraduate degree, to take advantage of this program. High on the list will be those former Morris Brown students who dropped out before realizing their goals of earning a college degree," Pritchett added.

Ezell Brown, Chairman of EOServe, is the CEO of Marketlinkx Direct, a full service interactive global marketing company with over 800 employees which specializes in multimedia marketing campaigns with an emphasis on education.

Mr. Brown said "We will increase the student body at Morris Brown by more than 300 students per year. In five years, we expect to have 1,000 students on campus and 1,500 online students - and this is a conservative estimate. Our involvement with Morris Brown should put the school in a much better position to regain and sustain fiscal stability."

As students and faculty prepare for a May graduation at Morris Brown, the mood is energized by the presence of the EOServe Corp team members who were recently introduced to the student body. Dr. Chavis, Chairman Brown and an entourage of their team toured the campus, taking a close look at facilities and talking with students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Dr. Sonny Walker, Vice Chairman of the Morris Brown Board of Trustees and Chair of the special committee addressing the emergency financial needs of the institution said, "We have labored hard and steady for the resurrection of Morris Brown College. Our goal is to insure that Morris Brown becomes an even better institution than it has been. The greater Atlanta community is still needed and encouraged to join us in our determination to keep what we have - a great institution providing a valuable education for our students. To say that we are excited about the potential of the online education opportunity is an understatement and the Trustees look forward to this partnership. However, the need for large donations and other corporate partnerships is critical - especially from our Atlanta philanthropic community," continued Dr. Walker.

The college remains financially challenged and must meet its monthly obligations. Financial stability is the one obstacle that stands between Morris Brown's application for accreditation. "We have always believed that if we could keep our doors open and attract assistance from a substantial resource, we would soon be able to turn our attention from the woes of financial emergencies to focus on our mission and plans to grow the institution for the future. We see the relationship between EOServe as a step in the right direction," stated Dr. Pritchett.